Wasn't sure where to post this in, but figured SE was probably suitable.

I don't put a whole lot of time and effort into paying attention to what the scammers out there are doing and how they're doing it, just that they exist and it's fairly easy to spot/ignore.

I recently posted an ad to craigslist for sale/trade of a laptop I just bought a couple months back and of course I receive the standard "Hi I am on business in UK but want the laptop for my nephew in Africa, can you send me your PayPal info and I will pay then you can ship there?" reply.

What is the scam here? Are they intending to try break into my PayPal account? Or just use some other poor persons stolen credit card info?

My guess would be the latter, the victim would deny the charge, I wouldn't get any money and (hopefully for the CC thief) I'd have sent the laptop seeing the payment come through. That about accurate?

Hi BillV,In my experience what you'll get in response to this sort of solicitation is a fake PayPal receipt email. The scammer will then ask the goods shipped. Asking for the PayPal details is just a way to customise the email template they will send you in an attempt to con you.

Other modalities might include offering to overpay for the goods and asking you to forward the difference by western union. Fake or stolen cheques are sometimes used, but forged PayPal emails are by far the most common due to the ease of use.

Ah, that was not something I had considered. Guess I figured most people would login to their PayPal account to check for the transaction. That does make sense though, and just as people will click those links and type in their passwords, I suppose they're just as likely to believe that a successful transaction has occurred.

I generally get at least a couple of these shortly after posting anything to Craigslist. The part that particularly amuses me is they they're lazy enough to not even refer specifically to what my item is, but generically say "your item". They seem to be in roughly the same class as the typical Nigerian inheritance/money laundering/tax avoidance spam.

I've basically just been editing my ad each time I receive a scam, adding the "name," email address and (if available) originating IP and country of where it's coming from. If nothing else, maybe it'll help other people that read it I guess.

Jimbob, you were right on. I do continue conversation with these scammers to some extent. The one I've most recently been talking to actually wants me to ship to an address here in the US. I was considering contacting the local law enforcement to have them just "drop by" and check it out. It's either someone in on the scam, or someone completely unsuspecting that thinks the scammer will pay them for receiving and shipping items.